Uncompromising Analysis Capability

Many USB users have been using digitizer hardware with software that simulates an oscilloscope for test and troubleshoot implementation. The limitations of this configuration are often overlooked, but they can cause signification problems. When a instrument says it has a high waveform update rate, people usually expect it to have a higher probability of catching random and infrequent glitches, but this isn’t the case for those instruments. In addition, common measurements like waveform averaging and advanced waveform triggers are not available.

The Keysight Streamline Series USB oscilloscopes USB oscilloscopes require minimum support from a central processing unit (CPU), as most of their core operations are handled by the MegaZoom IV smart memory ASIC, which is Keysight proprietary technology. MegaZoom includes hardware serial decoders and hardware mask/limit testing capability; supports GUI operation; and integrates additional instruments like a WaveGen function/arbitrary waveform generator.

The P924xA USB oscilloscopes utilize hardware to perform many of the functions traditional digitizers do with software on the CPU. By doing more in hardware, P924xA Series oscilloscopes can analyze more of the signal than ever before.

Key to the oscilloscope operation is that the acquisition does the triggering and most of the analysis utilizing onboard hardware. For example, to accomplish 1million waveforms/ sec, the waveforms are captured and plotted into hardware on the scope and then the waveform is transferred to the PC for display.

Industry-exclusive Zone Touch Trigger Makes Triggering Simple

Zone touch triggering eliminates the complexity of setting up advanced triggers. If you have a touch-enabled display on your controller, you can trigger on events by simply drawing a box with your finger on the display of the signal you want to isolate. Keysight pioneered the zone touch trigger, which allows easy capture of difficult-to-define trigger events.

The P924xAs’ high, uncompromised update rate increases your chance of seeing random and infrequent signal anomalies, and zone touch trigger helps you isolate the signals. Now your testing can be faster and more thorough.

Other touch-based operation

Just like Keysight’s touch-enabled InfiniiVision benchtop oscilloscopes (3000T, 4000 and 6000 X-Series), the P924xA Keysight Streamline Series USB oscilloscopes also uses touch capability to interact with signal display. In addition to zone touch trigger, these oscilloscopes also let you move the waveform up/down; adjust the time offset and zoom; and define one of the two touch zone triggers. All that is required is a touch-enabled display connected to your USB scope.

Additional Software for Added Functionality

P9240AWGA WaveGen 20 MHz function/arbitrary waveform generator

The P924xA Streamline Series USB oscilloscopes offer a 20-MHz built-in function/arbitrary waveform generator. The WaveGen provides standard stimulus output waveforms to your device under test as well as user-definable frequencies, amplitudes, offset and pulse widths and arbitrary waveform capability. The WaveGen output is routed to a MMCX connector on the front panel of the oscilloscope.

Use the built-in waveform editor to create custom waveforms to output on the oscilloscope’s WaveGen. It is also possible to capture a known good or ‘golden’ waveform on a scope channel and then save that to the ARB so you can generate it to stimulate your system under test.

P9240FRAA frequency response analyzer

Frequency response analysis is a critical measurement to characterize the stability of feedback networks and switch-mode power supplies. This capability is achieved with a gain and phase measurement versus frequency (Bode plot). By using the waveform generator output to stimulate your design and probing the input and output signals on channels 1 and 2, the oscilloscope provides a clear report on the gain and phase operation of the system.

P9240MSKA mask limit testing

With the mask limit testing measurement application, you can quickly test more than 200,000 waveforms per second to a known good waveform with quick go/no-go test results, saving you valuable test time while providing you with more confidence in test results. Test your signals to specified standards, and uncover unexpected signal anomalies.

Mask testing on other oscilloscopes is usually based on software-intensive processing technology, which tends to be slow. Keysight’s InfiniiVision oscilloscopes’ mask test option is based on hardware- based technology. This means P924xA oscilloscopes can perform more than 200,000 real-time waveform pass/fail tests per second. This provides testing throughput that is orders of magnitude faster than what is available on other oscilloscope mask test solutions, making valid pass/fail statistics almost instantly.

P9240VIDA enhanced video/TV application package

The P924XA oscilloscopes support a video IRE display grid, as well as cursors measurements performed in video IRE units for the NTSC and PAL standards. This new capability is standard on P924xA oscilloscopes. The P9240VIDA software provides an array of additional HDTV triggering standards. The additional triggering options provided by the P9240VIDA software speed debug and characterization for engineers working on HDTV video applications.

P9240NFCA NFC triggering Testing

NFC-enabled devices is essential during the design validation and manufacturing test phases to ensure quality and reliability of data transmission. This is especially important when you consider that the data being transferred/exchanged between NFC- enabled devices is often secured financial transactions. The P9240NFCA NFC trigger application enables easy configuration to capture the signals of interest for NFC-A, NFC-B and NFC-F messages.

Decodes

P9240EMBA embedded serial triggering and analysis (I²C)

The I²C serial decode software option for P924xA Streamline Series USB oscilloscopes displays responsive, time-aligned, on-screen decode of Inter-Integrated Circuit (I²C) serial communication. Because this capability is hardware-based, it provides the fastest throughput solution for triggering on and analyzing I²C serial buses found in a wide variety of embedded designs. You can easily isolate serial packets to find sources of errors due to hardware- or software-related problems. Sometimes it may be necessary to correlate data from one serial bus to another. Keysight’s P924xA oscilloscopes can decode two serial buses simultaneously using hardware-based decoding.

P9240CMPA computer serial trigger/analysis (RS232/422/485/UART)

The RS232/422/485/UART serial triggering and decode option for P924xA oscilloscopes displays responsive, time-aligned, on-screen decode of RS-232/422/485 and other UART serial buses. It provides triggering capabilities on specified transmit or receive values, as well as on parity errors. Trigger on and acquire RS-232/422/485/UART signals using either oscilloscope or logic channels. Hardware-based decode means the scope stays responsive and fast when decode is turned on. Real-time counters continually count transmit and receive frames and errors.

The automotive serial triggering and analysis (CAN, LIN) option for P924xA oscilloscopes allows you to trigger on either standard or extended CAN message IDs, including the message ID of a remote transfer request frame. It supports triggering on a data frame and allows you to specify message IDs, data and data length for filtering messages of interest. Triggering on active error frames is also supported. In addition, it supports triggering on LIN frame IDs and data and includes color-coded parity and check sums errors. You can easily isolate serial packets to find sources of errors due to hardware- or software-related problems.

P9240SNSA SENT (single edge nibble transmission) trigger and analysis

The SENT (single edge nibble transmission) is a point-to-point serial bus that interfaces sensors to ECUs and is used primarily in automotive applications. Keysight’s P9240SNSA SENT software option for the P924xA Series oscilloscopes provides decoding of fast and slow channel serial data and also offers extensive triggering selections, including the ability to trigger on various error conditions that can accelerate efficiency in debugging this bus.

Keysight’s P924xA Streamline USB oscilloscopes can display captured data from multiple buses in a time-interleaved “lister” display. Sometimes it may be necessary to correlate data from one serial bus to another, such as CAN to SENT.

P9240CXPA CXPI trigger and decode

CXPI (clock extension peripheral interface) is the next-generation automotive communication protocol intended to reduce the number and weight of wiring harnesses by making multiplexing possible even in advanced, multifunction HMI (human machine interface) automotive systems. In many cases, CXPI is an alternative serial bus used in place of many of today’s LIN serial bus applications for automotive body control.

Keysight’s P9240CXPA CXPI software for P924xA oscilloscopes provides decoding of standard and long CXPI frames and also offers extensive triggering selections, including the ability to trigger on various error conditions that can accelerate the engineer’s efficiency in debugging this bus.

Keysight’s P924xA oscilloscopes can display captured data from multiple buses in a time-interleaved “lister” display. This allows correlation of data being passed through gateways, such as CAN to CXPI.

P9240AROA MIL-STD 1553 and ARINC 429 serial triggering and analysis

The MIL-STD 1553 serial bus is primarily used to interconnect avionics equipment in military aircrafts. This bus is based on tri-level signaling (high, low and idle) and requires dual-threshold triggering, which the P924xA Streamline Series USB oscilloscopes support. This bus is also implemented as a redundant multi-lane bus (dual-bus analysis), which is also supported.

The ARINC 429 serial bus is used to interconnect avionics equipment in civilian aircrafts. This bus is also based on tri-level signaling (high, low and null) and requires dual- threshold triggering. Since ARINC 429 is a point-to-point bus, multi-lane analysis is also required to capture both send and receive data.

The USB Type-C connection has broadened the range of USB usability by incorporating a dynamic power system called USB Power Delivery (USB PD). Negotiating required power between various USB devices is achieved over the USB’s Type-C connector’s CC line utilizing a serial protocol based on bi-phase marked coding (BMC). The USB PD protocol option (P9240UPDA) for USB oscilloscopes provides an easy way to debug the 300 kbps signal to provide protocol-level debug information of the USB PD serial bus. This option includes enhanced serial analysis capability for decode and listing window view, triggering, and post-acquisition searching.